Although the modalities and convenience of remote communication have increased dramatically in recent years, it can be argued that progress in connecting people electronically has actually driven them further apart—at least in a human sense. E-mail, for example, is pure text, lacking the nuance and expression of spoken communication. It is for this reason that e-mail messages are frequently accompanied by so-called “emoticons” (or “smilies”), which convey an intended sentiment that bare words may lack. Indeed, even a telephone conversation, which affords the subtleties of intonation, pause and non-verbal responses such as laughter, cannot impart the emotional content of gesture.
At the same time, communication modalities (such as the telephone) that permit emotional expression necessarily rely on real-time interaction, and the communication link requires substantial bandwidth and active effort to initiate. Both parties to a phone conversation must be simultaneously available and, if feelings are to be exchanged, sufficiently unoccupied to express those feelings. A voice-mail message may carry emotion, but is always received some time after the message is imparted.